Equality In Law Germany

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ISBN 13 : 9789276017783
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (177 download)

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Download or read book Country Report, Gender Equality written by and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The German legal system is a federal, statutory law system. The centre of legal thought and practice is the parliamentary statute (although the practice - as we will see - is far more differentiated and fuzzy). The system is hierarchical: federal law takes precedence over state law, and every law has to be in compliance with the Constitution. Due to the federal system, legislative powers are distributed between the federal and the state (Land) level in Germany. Most legislative powers relating to the key issues addressed by the gender equality directives still rest at the federal level. However, over the years, state competences have increased in relation to the civil service and work in the public sector. Legal and political disputes about gender equality are now often linked to the states' equality and higher education laws. Despite the importance of statutory law, areas of significance in respect of gender equality, such as the multitude of social security schemes or many aspects of working life, are shaped not only by federal and state law, but also by collective and works agreements or the internal regulations of professional organisations with a right to self-regulate. Although internal regulations and collective agreements must comply with constitutional requirements, in the opinion of the author of this report, the level of judicial review concerning questions of gender equality in these areas of law leaves a great deal to be desired. In addition, case law plays an important role and decisions of the higher and federal courts may have great influence and impact. Courts are established at the regional, state and federal level. Labour courts deal with discrimination in the field of employment, except for discrimination within the civil service (which falls under the ambit of the administrative courts). The civil courts decide on claims concerning the provision of goods and services under civil law, while the administrative courts are competent for claims against public authorities. There are also specialised courts for social and tax law. Every court in Germany is obliged to examine whether the laws and regulations it intends to apply are in accordance with the Constitution including the constitutional guarantee of gender equality. It is true that only the Federal Constitutional Court is competent to decide on the constitutionality (and thus, validity) of laws enacted by the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and therefore, all other courts questioning the constitutionality of parliamentary statutes have to refer to the Federal Constitutional Court for a decision ('special judicial review of statutes' or 'referral').1 In addition to statutes, court decisions in violation of the principle of constitutional equality can also be subject to an annulment by the Federal Constitutional Court. The competence to review and, in some cases, decide upon questions of compatibility with constitutional and EU law offers considerable opportunities for courts to further gender equality and to fight gender discrimination. Every court is competent to refer the question of constitutionality of a parliamentary statute to the Federal Constitutional Court and to review non-parliamentary regulations without referral. Every court is competent to directly apply EU gender equality law, to interpret national law in compliance with the EU directives and to refer questions of compatibility with EU law to the CJEU. Although claimants cannot oblige a national court to refer the case to the Federal Constitutional Court when doubting the constitutionality of national law, the refusal of a referral to the CJEU may be challenged before the Federal Constitutional Court as a violation of the right to due process before the legally competent judge.